The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Female Lead is Mine [Transmigration Into a Novel] - Chapter 33

“What’s wrong, Zhitian?”

Luo Yang also woke up, her voice pressed so low it was almost imperceptible. In the darkness, her expression was hard to make out, but her bright, star-like eyes were vaguely visible.

Xie Zhitian shushed her, gesturing for her to look out through the small gap in the curtains. To avoid being seen by the large black dog outside, they didn’t pull the curtain open any wider.

Luo Yang leaned in from behind, their bodies pressed tightly together as they peered out. “It’s trying to open the door,” she whispered.

The warmth of Luo Yang’s breath tickled Xie Zhitian’s ear, a tingly, slightly itchy sensation. Xie Zhitian’s heart fluttered, but she quickly pushed down the strange feeling. “It’s okay,” she responded quietly. “The door is deadbolted from the inside. It can’t get in.”

Before going to sleep, she had confirmed with Cheng Yiyi that if the front door was deadbolted from the inside, it couldn’t be opened from the outside, even with a key. Although Cheng Yiyi’s main door didn’t look very sturdy, the dog was acting with such caution that it probably wouldn’t dare to make too much noise and risk waking up the people inside.

The black dog was patient, fiddling with the lock over a dozen times. When that didn’t work, it finally stopped. Just as Xie Zhitian thought it had given up, it stood for a moment and then suddenly walked toward the window.

Both of their hearts leaped. They immediately lay down and pretended to be asleep.

Xie Zhitian opened her eyes just a slit, looking toward the gap in the curtains. Soon, the gap was filled by a black shadow, from which the faint outline of a round dog’s eye could be seen. Based on the height, the black dog was standing on its hind legs.

Xie Zhitian’s heart began to pound. She could imagine the scene in the yard: a black dog, tall as a person, standing silently by the window, peering through the curtain’s slit at the two people on the bed.

Did the dog sense that they had been watching it? If so, it was even more perceptive than she had imagined. She lay still, letting it observe them. After about five minutes, the moonlight once again filled the gap in the curtains.

Xie Zhitian leaned into Luo Yang’s ear, speaking in a voice only they could hear. “Let’s go back to sleep. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

The window had security bars, so the dog couldn’t break in, but it might come back to check on them now and then. In that case, it was better to get some rest and find a good time to discuss a plan the next day. Luo Yang understood and nodded, closing her eyes.

Xie Zhitian felt a sense of relief. It was lucky that she and Luo Yang had physical senses beyond those of ordinary people, or they would never have been woken up to witness this. Cheng Yiyi had said that while the cat and dog seemed odd, they hadn’t shown any intent to harm anyone. But from the previous night’s events, the black dog was clearly up to no good.

By following this thread, they might uncover something unexpected. When she woke up tomorrow, she needed to discuss it with Luo Yang and formulate a plan to test the animals.

As she thought, Xie Zhitian drifted off to sleep. When she woke up again, it was already broad daylight.

She felt the soft brush of hair on her neck and instinctively looked down. Luo Yang had burrowed into her covers at some point, her chin resting on Xie Zhitian’s shoulder and one arm wrapped gently around her waist as she slept soundly.

Xie Zhitian’s eyes went wide with shock, but she didn’t want to wake her, so she just lay still. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Luo Yang also woke up. She rubbed her eyes, and when she realized their current position, she shot up, her cheeks slowly turning red.

“I’ll go make breakfast,” she said.

Seeing Luo Yang’s panicked reaction, Xie Zhitian calmed down. She thought about it and decided it wasn’t a big deal. The bed was just too small, and Luo Yang had accidentally treated her like a pillow. They were both girls, so what did a little hug matter?

“Let’s go to the yard and get water to wash up first,” she said. “Then we can make something to eat together.” She smiled and complained playfully, “I slept so well in the second half of the night, my head is still a little fuzzy.”

Seeing Xie Zhitian’s normal demeanor, Luo Yang relaxed. Together, they went to the yard, preparing to get clean well water with the wooden buckets to wash up.

Cheng Yiyi was up even earlier than they were, busy in the kitchen. Xia Fufeng was preparing to leave, a slice of bread in her mouth. Seeing the two of them, she instructed, “Don’t come with me to work today. Stay here and keep Yiyi company.”

Xie Zhitian nodded. “Alright.” She glanced to the side. The big black dog was curled up in a corner of the yard, napping, seeming completely oblivious to their presence. The cat was out of sight, likely in the side room or the backyard.

She thought for a moment and said to Xia Fufeng, “Could you bring back some flour tonight? We can make flatbread.”

Xia Fufeng agreed. “Sure, I was craving some too.”

“What time will you be back?” Xie Zhitian asked. “I’ll get the ingredients ready.”

“Around six,” Xia Fufeng replied.

“Okay,” Xie Zhitian said.

She walked Xia Fufeng to the courtyard gate. Before she left, Xie Zhitian whispered, “I’ll meet you at the village entrance at six.”

Xia Fufeng’s steps faltered slightly. She wanted to ask why, but thinking of the strange cat and dog in the yard, she held back. She just gave a subtle nod.

Xia Fufeng was distracted all day at work, worried about the people at the house. Since Xie Zhitian had said that, she must want to discuss a plan to deal with the two animals, which kept her from concentrating. Her colleagues, seeing she was out of sorts, kindly suggested she go home early to rest. Xia Fufeng gratefully accepted their offer.

She went to the market, bought a bag of flour, and drove back toward Cheng Yiyi’s house. Although she was half an hour early, as she neared the village entrance, she saw the two familiar figures from a distance.

Xia Fufeng stopped the car and rolled down the window. “Get in. We can talk in the car.”

Xie Zhitian and Luo Yang got in. Xie Zhitian looked around to confirm there was nothing unusual nearby, then gave a detailed account of what had happened last night.

“Oh my god,” Xia Fufeng exclaimed repeatedly. “Your nerves must be made of steel. If that had been me, I would have cried on the spot. But the dog’s behavior is a very clear sign of something abnormal, isn’t it? What do you think its goal is?”

“I’m not sure,” Xie Zhitian replied, “but I think it might be looking for something it can use. Think about it: when Cheng Yiyi is at home, it can’t rummage around. But whenever she leaves, she locks the door. So it never has a chance.”

“Even if it’s looking for something, what do we do next?” Xia Fufeng asked.

“I want to confirm whether it harbors malicious intent toward humans,” Xie Zhitian said. “If it wanted to get into the room to find something it could use to secretly harm a person without getting caught, we can provide it with that object as a test.”

She paused, then explained the reasoning to Xia Fufeng in more detail.

Cheng Yiyi had said the cat and dog had been observing her but hadn’t done anything to hurt her. But the question was, was it because they didn’t want to, or because they didn’t dare? If they knew they would be put down or driven away for harming their owner, they naturally wouldn’t act rashly. But what if they deliberately created a situation where the animals thought they could harm a human without anyone finding out? Would they do it then?

If they could confirm that the animals were a threat to humans, a report to the authorities would be taken seriously. Otherwise, even if they handed them over, the officials would just see them as smart animals and not pay them much mind.

“That makes sense,” Xia Fufeng said thoughtfully. “But how do we create that situation?”

Luo Yang lowered her voice. “We already planned that out today. You just need to follow the plan I lay out in a bit, and everyone will cooperate.” She leaned closer and whispered something into Xia Fufeng’s ear.

Since Xia Fufeng got off work early, it was still light when the three of them arrived at Cheng Yiyi’s house. This time, she drove the car directly into the courtyard instead of parking it by the gate.

Cheng Yiyi saw them and asked in a natural tone, “Hey, big sister, how did you all come back together?”

“We ran into each other after I went to buy some things,” Xie Zhitian said, handing Cheng Yiyi a bag of spiced salt they had prepared earlier. “Here’s what you needed.”

Cheng Yiyi took it and smiled. “Thanks for getting it for me. I’ll make you guys some spiced salt flatbread. It’s really good.” She turned to Xia Fufeng. “Did you buy the flour?”

Xia Fufeng opened the trunk and pointed. “Yep, I did.”

Luo Yang reached for the bag of flour, her gaze seeming to casually fall on something next to it. “Xia, is this flour too?”

Next to the flour in the trunk was a small, palm-sized bag, lying quietly in the corner.

Xia Fufeng shook her head. “No, don’t touch that. It’s potent. It can kill people.” As she spoke, she watched the black cat curled up in the corner of the yard out of the corner of her eye. “I use it to poison rats and insects. I need to deliver it to another village tomorrow, so I brought it back for the night.”

Luo Yang acknowledged this and didn’t touch the small bag, just closing the trunk door without latching it.

The group went inside, exchanging a quick glance. Cheng Yiyi went to the kitchen to start cooking, and a moment later, smoke began to rise from the chimney. The other three went to the bedroom and watched the scene in the yard through the gap in the curtains.

At some point, the black dog had also come into the yard and was now lying quietly with the cat.

Xie Zhitian watched them patiently. Finally, when the sound of stir-frying came from the kitchen, the black dog was the first to move. It padded over to the car’s trunk, pushed at the door with its front paws, and opened the door a crack. The black cat quickly slipped inside and came out with the small bag of poison that Xia Fufeng had mentioned, holding it in its mouth.

Xie Zhitian’s heart suddenly raced. She watched the dog’s undisguised look of excitement, as if it knew exactly what was about to happen.

The black dog let go of the car door and raised its head to survey its surroundings. Then, it used its paw to tear a small opening in the bag. It leaned in, as if to pick it up, but stopped when it saw the white powder inside, which could easily get on its paws.

After a brief pause, the black dog carefully held the small bag with its front paws, wobbling as it stood up and walked to the well in the center of the yard. It stood like a person, holding the bag with its paws, and emptied the white powder into the well.

It stayed in that position until all the powder had fallen into the water. Then, it carried the empty bag and wobbled over to a patch of wet soil near the edge of the yard. It used its front paws to dig a small hole, dropped the empty bag inside, and quickly filled the hole back in with dirt.

After completing this, the black dog returned to its corner. It lay down with its front paws on the ground, raised its head, and looked toward the kitchen, a smile on its face. Sometimes, dogs express happiness by baring their teeth in a grin, like a Samoyed or a Shiba Inu, which can be very heartwarming.

But the smile on this black dog’s face could only be described as bone-chilling.

Human expressions, when put on an animal’s face, become incredibly unsettling. Xie Zhitian found it difficult to describe the expression in words. If she had to, it was like a person wearing a dog’s face and trying to smile.

“Zhitian,” a person beside her whispered. “It wants us to die.”

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